Games & Movement Stories for

Social-Emotional Learning Wendy Piret – wendy@move-with-me.com

www.move-with-me.com

((206) – 55-1644

Overview

• Pre-Activity

• Adventure Skills

• Post-Activity

• Physiology of Movement

• Play More - Stress Less - Learn More

• Games

• Yoga Poses

• Making Movement Stories

Pre-Activity

• Turn head to left.

– Notice how it feels.

– Notice range of peripheral vision.

• Turn head to right.

– Notice sensation and vision.

• Fold from hips into forward bend

– Notice sensation and range of motion, touch your fingers lightly on your knees or shins to mark ROM

• Snap Test

– Notice ease or difficulty.

A B C D E F G l r t r l r t

H I J K L M N l l r l r r t

O P Q R S T U l t r l t r r

V W X Y Z l t t l r

• Adventure Skilll # 1

• Adventure Skill # 2

• Adventure Skill # 3

• Adventure Skill # 4

*Ordered to coincide with Brain Gym®’s PACE

A B C D E F G l r t r l r t

H I J K L M N l l r l r r t

O P Q R S T U l t r l t r r

V W X Y Z l t t l r

Post-Activity

• Turn head to left.

– Notice how it feels.

– Notice range of peripheral vision.

• Turn head to right.

– Notice sensation and vision.

• Fold from hips into forward bend

– Notice sensation and range of motion, touch your fingers lightly on your knees or shins to mark ROM

• Snap Test

– Notice ease or difficulty.

Play More, Stress Less

Play More, Learn More

Adventure Skill #1

Drink water regularly.

Enhances:

• Electro-chemical activity in

Central Nervous System

• Processing speed

• Stress release

Drink Water

Adventure Skill #2

Rub spots under collarbone with thumb and one finger while holding other hand over navel and tracking eyes horizontally. Deep breath and HUMMMMMMM Stimulates: • Flow of oxygen to the brain • Hemispheric integration • Binocular vision - eye teaming • RAS

*Similar to Brain Buttons in Brain Gym®

Humming Breath*

Adventure Skill #3

March in place, alternately touching

hands to opposite knees. Enhances:

• Crossing the visual/auditory/ kinesthetic/tactile midlines

• Hemispheric integration • Binocular vision • Binaural hearing • Left right coordination • Stability in the walking gait

*Cross Crawl in Brain Gym®

Monkey Wisdom*

Adventure Skill #4

1. Cross your ankles and clasp hands with arms crossed over your chest.

2. Sit with fingertips touching and feet on the floor.

Supports:

• Emotional centering • Grounding • Respiration • Self-control and boundaries

*Hook ups in Brain Gym®

Deep Down Wisdom*

3 Games

• Be a Mountain – play with & embody how to ground oneself and feel strong and stable

• Nature Kids – play with and embody various forces qualities in nature. End with Rainbow.

• I’m a Rainbow – powerful, joyful, I know I can, caring, truthful, smart, understanding

Link to videos

Be a Mountain

• Ask players to spread out and pretend to be stiff boards (or soliders) – tall and rigid with feet together. Move about the group gently nudging players, causing them to fall off balance and change their position, or shift their feet in order to remain stiff. Ask players why they are not “strong”. Answer: Because all their energy is tense and upward, which is de-stabalizing.

• Then suggest that they try to “Be a mountain.” instead. Coach them to stand with feet slightly apart and body tall and aligned but relaxed. Invite them to breathe deeply and send their energy down. They can even imagine that their feet sink deep into the earth like the base of the mountain and that their eyes can see great distances because they are so tall and majestic. Now the players, when nudged, will remain solidly placed.

• When the group can Be a Mountain with success, play some energizing music and encourage players to move through the space – dancing and having fun. Then stop the music and call:, “Be a Mountain.” Players should quickly relax down into Mountain (remind them not to freeze). Then again, gently nudge players testing that they do not move their feet or fall off balance but remain grounded and strong. Each time the music is stopped, the teacher should nudge several players until the entire group has had a turn to show how strong and balanced they are.

Nature Kids

• Ask the group to name five or six structures found in the natural world, such as, tree, boulder, waterfall, etc. Then, as a group, decide on a body position that best portrays each structure. Tree might be standing with arms wide overhead; boulder could easily become the entire group clumped together. If the group needs assistance in deciding how to represent each structure, help by suggesting some of the qualities these structures possess. For instance, trees are generally tall, strong, and yet flexible.

• Once the group decides on each position, lead the play like a game of Simon Says, calling out the names randomly. Vary the speed and order of your commands for more energy and fun!

• You can also play as Forces of Nature – so it’s more weather, fire, earthquake, snow, rainbow, wind, storm, etc. Encourage players to use movements (in place) and sound effects with their bodies or voices. Played this way, the game really helps kids let off steam.

I’m a Rainbow • Red I’m powerful – flex arms

• Orange I’m joyful – both arms up

• Yellow I know I can – thumbs up

• Green I’m caring - hands together at heart

• Blue I tell the truth – talking hands by face

• Violet Understanding – arms wide and then …

• I’m a Rainbow - big self-hug y

Using the origami rainbow – invite children to practice moving into Rainbow Body - tall, open, bright and balanced. When ready, sing the song with hand movements.

Demo sending your rainbow to child and receiving his/her rainbow. Just use your imagination and breath to see your colors shower them. Then ask them how it felt; tell them how theirs felt.

Then have the group partner up – choose who is sender and who is receiver – and do the same activity. Sender “sends” his/her rainbow to receiver – receiver tells sender how it feels. Then switch roles. Rainbow is positive energy and may feel tingly, warm, soft, yellow, etc..

Remind kids that they know when someone is mad at them and sending them “daggers” without saying anything, right?! Why not send rainbows and have a positive impact on people. And you can send rainbows to people anywhere, anytime J

• Active play promotes creative problem solving - apply to conflicts.

• Active play facilitates better language skills – apply to communication.

• Active play improves memory and learning – apply thru-out the day.

• Active play improves focus, attention and sustained concentration.

• Active play improves impulse control – I can re-direct my self!

• Active play improves balance & coordination = confidence

• Active play regulates body weight = well-being

• Active play calms, sooths and reduces self-reported anxiety

The SEL Benefits of Play and Exercise

Movement Stories • Make up your own (with the class!)

– Circle Story with a Twist

• Choose yoga cards/poses – create a story – Yoga Pretzel/Planet Decks – Yoga Kit for Kids (Imaginazium)

• Choose storybook – Choreograph poses and movements first – Kids simply act out the story as you read – Read a section, then invite creative movement:

• Can you be a worm, mouse, cat? How do you move? • If you were a turtle/beetle, stuck on your back, show what

would you do to get unstuck?

• Choose a Movement and Story Based Curriculum – Move with Me Action Adventures – Yoga Ed.

Yoga Poses

Poses w/ names

Cat / Sheep / cow / pig

Dragon

Buffalo

Antelope

Frog Turtle Monkey Twisting Star

Ideal Movement Stories • Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle

• Panda Bear, Panda Bearby Eric Carle

• The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle

• The Very Clumsy Click Beetle by Eric Carle

• The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

• Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman

• My Daddy is a Pretzel by Baron Baptiste

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Play/Movement support Being Well & Doing Well

• Over-rides the body’s physiological response to stress.

• Organizes whole-brain function for optimal learning. (Dennison and Hannaford).

• Fuels the brain and body with oxygen and glucose.

• Raises chemical messengers levels that balance mind/ body.

• Triggers BDNF, a neuro-tropic factor required for thinking. BDNF decreases after 20 minutes of sitting and is triggered again with movement.

• Strengthens key areas of the brain – basal ganglia, cerebellum and corpus callosum by building brain cells and connections. Improves mental focus and concentration (Caterino and Polk, 1999)

Play/Movement support Being Well & Doing Well

• Enhances memory, creativity and academic achievement. (Michund and Wild 1991), (Brink, 1995), (Vanves and Blanchard).

• Develops eye muscle fitness and helps with reading.

• Helps 85% of students who are kinesthetic learners (Hannaford). Learning through body is more powerful than learning through listening and recalling facts (Jensen). If it’s not in your body, you really haven’t learned it.

• Creates a fun, harmonious and safe environment for learning and developing social skills.

• Develops self-awareness and the ability to self-regulate.

• Builds self-confidence and strengthens the connection to inner resources and healthy choices.

• Brain Gym® 101: Balance for Daily Life, Paul Dennison, Ph.D. & Gail Dennison, Brain Gym® and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning. Ventura, CA: Edu-Kinesthetics, Inc, 2006. Teacher’s Edition Revised. Ventura, CA: Edu-Kinesthetics, Inc, 1994 www.braingym.com

• Ratey, John. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. http://sparkinglife.org/

• Healy, Jane. The Growing Mind. http://education.jhu.edu/newhorizons/future/creating_the_future/crfut_healy.cfm

• Goldberg, Elkhonon. The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2001.

• Hannaford, Carla. The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand & Foot Can Improve Your Learning. Salt Lake City, Utah: Great River Books, 1997, Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not All in Your Head. Salt Lake City, Utah: Great River Books, 2005. http://www.greatriverbooks.com/PlayingInTheUnifiedFieldPage.htm

• Pearce, Joseph C. Evolution’s End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1992. http://ttfuture.org/jcp/front

• Sally Goddard Blythe - http://www.sallygoddardblythe.co.uk/index.php

• Dr. John Medina - http://www.brainrules.net/

RESOURCES www.move-with-me.com